Can-Esc.Com

Give 1 - Get 1 project at Indiegogo

Mon, 20 May 2013 02:24:59 -0000

Help me send copies of Canadian Escapades to libraries and schools via my new Give 1 - Get 1 project at Indiegogo.

When you back the project for $15 or more, you get one book and I will give one book to a library or school. (That includes free shipping in the US, so costs a bit less than buying the book at retail.) I first learned of the "Get 1 - Give 1" approach via the One Laptop Per Child project (OLPC) -- and I've long planned something similar for Canadian Escapades. It's now here!

Indiegogo and Kickstarter are the two leading "crowdfunding" sites. They allow individuals to fund projects, products & people based on some combination of pre-payment, extra perks/rewards (a thank-you card, t-shirt, etc.), and simple generosity. It's a brilliant way to enable creators to overcome the initial funding hurdles -- and for individual backers to become part of the process and then get something that may otherwise never have come into existence.

While "Give 1 - Get 1" isn't directly related to crowdfunding, I think they're a natural fit. It provides an easy way to share what you like.

Canadian Escapades now available as an ebook

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 01:14:37 -0000

I took a break from the blog to work on other formats for the book. I'm happy to announce that Canadian Escapades is now available as an ebook for Kindle!

[Update: the link now points to Amazon for the Kindle edition.]

Denis at Fifobooks let me know that our 2-column format would work fine on most ereaders, and did some of the format conversion and testing. As thanks, the ebook is available there exclusively at launch. We'll add other outlets soon.

I would guess that Canadian Escapades is the first bilingual ebook with side-by-side alignment by sentence. If anyone has links and/or screenshots for other dual-language ebooks, please send them along.

Pricing:

ebook: ~~$7.99~~ introductory price $3.99
paperback: $12.95

If you're stopping by for the first time, please check out the details on our home page, use the nav bar above for a preview, and see what you think of our video trailers and posters. If you have questions, please contact us.

Bill Hillman, Bob Henderson and AirMuseum.ca

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0000

William G. (Bill) Hillman runs a large military tributes site and is the Webmaster of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum and the related "Official Publication of the RCAF Ex-Air Gunners": Short Bursts edited by John Moyles from March 1983 through December 2007.

To tie 2 threads together, here are several contributions from Bob Henderson:

June 2006 - WOG Wing (unofficial insignia?)
May 2006 - 1940 Spotter’s Log
June 2005 - short roll of WW2 currency
Mar. 2005 - plane crash at Stalag 1VB
Nov. 2004 - Sweetheart Pins, Japanese Balloon Bomb
Sep. 2004 - Canadian POW Sgt. W. M. Vanzant
June 2004 - RAF squadron shot down Dec. 1942
May 2004 - an unidentified pin
Feb. 2004 - model ships built by German POWs
Oct. 2003 - model biplanes built by WWI British POW
July 2003 - Penny match covers (*)
Nov. 2002 - 1946 article on Japanese Balloon Bombs
Sep. 2002 - "Lagergeld" (POW camp money)

(*) An amusing note:

If you have trouble turning your monitor upside down to read the topside of the match cover, just stand your grand child on his or her head.

Book (1993): German Prisoners of War in Canada and Their Artifacts, 1940-1948

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0000

Bob Henderson also co-authored a book in 1993: German Prisoners of War in Canada and Their Artifacts, 1940-1948

by Robert J. Henderson and C.M.V. Madsen
ISBN 0-9697888-0-0
SOFT COVER,  6" X 9",  203 pages

Details from AirMuseum.ca:

The definitive book on the history, activities and collectable artifacts of German Prisoners of War (with some Veteran Guard of Canada) ... from the Second World War.

Documented details including photographs, locations of branch camps, Labor Projcts, Military Hospitals, and Detention Centers. The book includes a special section on the collecting of artifacts relating to these Prisoners, including eighty photographs of "Collectibles" currently held in the Homefront Archives & Museum at Regina, Saskatchewan.

The book provides the historian, the researcher, and the colletor with details not found in any other publication!

There's a listing at Amazon but no copies available there or via AbeBooks.

Chris Madsen is also the author of another book on the period: The Royal Navy and German Naval Disarmament 1942-1947.

Homefront Archives & Museum at Regina, Saskatchewan

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0000

Robert J. (Bob) Henderson turned his collection of artifacts into the "Homefront Archives & Museum".

AirMuseum.ca has some background:

Bob’s interest in German PoWs began when he was 12. His parents told him stories of prisoners escaping in Northern Ontario, where he lived at the time. In 1985 he traded with a friend for a carving made by a PoW.

“I thought, ‘Well this is an area of Canadian history that is completely ignored and unknown. If everything is as nice as this carving, I’m going to start collecting it’.”

The most treasured piece in his collection is a PoW’s painting of a soldier walking with his machine gun on his shoulder. The 250 cm. X 120 cm. Painting is done in shades of brown and cream.

...

In SEPT 1996, Mr. George HOEGAL of Munchen, Germany, wrote to identify himself as the artist who had painted the picture.

Follow the link to read more.

Bob has graciously sent me some additional material on one of Klaus Conrad's escapes, which I will post to the blog at some point.

Bob's contact info:

Homefront Archives & Museum
6015-5th Ave.
Regina, SK S4T 6V4
Canada
(306) 543-5822
homefront@sasktel.net

Wainwright Internment Camp No. 135 - more details

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0000

The "Wainwright District" site includes "The Camp Wainwright Story" with several additional pages of information about the POW camp:

January 1945 to June 1946 - by Marsha Scribner; Pages 37-44 excerpted from her book Transitions.

We Meet Again - by Erika Foley, with details on a visit by former POW Hansgeorg Mertsch. Among other tidbits:

Memories came back of making wine from berries with a makeshift still located in the bathroom areas outside between the barracks. A Canadian guard found the site one day before the wine was ready, and they talked him into waiting one day before he dismantled it. “Both sides were satisfied,” he commented. “We had Operation Musk Ox - a really big party.”

POW Collector Visits Wainwright covers a visit by collector Robert (Bob) Henderson and his brother Brett, with Captain Kevin Winfield of the Wainwright base, and then former guard Leo Hamson and former POW Siegfried Osterwoldt.

The Enemy Within discusses the documentary by Eva Colmers.

Buffalo National Park News Stories features clips from 1909-1921.

And of course: Recollections of a Guard Officer at POW Camp 135 by Leo Hamson, which we featured earlier.

Related Posts:
   1. Big red circle (Jul 21, 2010)
   2. "A Brilliant Escape" (Jul 12, 2010)
   3. War Diary of Internment Camp No. 135: Jan 15-31 (Apr 26, 2010)
   4. Documentary (2003): The Enemy Within (Apr 23, 2010)

Page 21: You were quite lucky

Fri, 24 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0000

Und nach wenigen Minuten erhielten wir trockene Kleider und hängten unser nasses Zeug an den warmen Ofen. Inzwischen war Zählung in den Hütten; kaum war sie beendet, da huschten ein paar Gestalten zum Waschhaus, brachten zu essen und zu trinken - und dann saßen wir noch lange beisammen, und das Erzählen nahm kein Ende. "Da habt ihr wirklich Schwein gehabt, daß ihr nicht in die erste Hütte hineingingt - da wohnen nämlich kanadische Zivilarbeiter; und wenn erst einer von euch weiß, dann ist es im Nu herum - bei den wenigen Neuigkeiten hier oben", meinte er. "Und was habt ihr weiter vor, wenn die Suchaktion der Polizei nachgelassen hat?" fragte ein anderer. "Zunächst in die Staaten und Geld verdienen; und dann an die Ostküste in einen der Häfen, wo täglich Schiffe nach Europa abgehen. Sind wir aber erst in Europa, dann wird sich ein Weg nach Deutschland finden lassen." Es war lange nach Mitternacht, als wir uns endlich zur Ruhe legten.

After just a few minutes we had dry clothing and were hanging our wet stuff over the warm stove. Meanwhile the count was going on in the huts; as soon as it was over a few figures scurried over to the wash house bringing food and drinks - and then we sat together for quite awhile, and the story telling wouldn't come to an end. "You were quite lucky not to enter the first hut - because Canadian workers live there; and if one of them knew about you, then it would have been over in a moment - with the news being very sparse up here," he said. "And what are your plans once the police search has ceased?" asked another. "At first to the States and earn some money; and then to the East Coast to one of the port cities where ships depart daily to Europe. Once we're in Europe, we'll find a way to get to Germany." It was long after midnight when we finally lay down to rest.

"so correct and indeed friendly"

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0000

Treatment of Allied POWs (at least those from the West) in German POW camps was largely professional.

Here's the text of an excerpt (7:10-7:28) from the above interview with Walter Morison, a British former POW held at Sagan and then Colditz.

Well, you see, if you were a British officer, or, come to that, an American officer, the treatment which you received (from, in our case, primarily the Luftwaffe), was so correct and indeed friendly, really, that you didn't expect anything unpleasant.

For more information about his escapes and daily camp life, see his book Flak and Ferrets: One Way to Colditz.

(Enlisted men and those in larger camps probably had it rougher, especially in terms of food. Things also got considerably worse towards the end of the war -- and even in the immediate aftermath.)

Related Posts:
1. Stalag Luft III; conditions in a German POW camp (May 06, 2010)

The Colditz Glider (video)

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0000

The Allied POWs built a glider in one of the attics. It was never discovered by the guards, nor tested. But it was quite an inspiration, as illustrated above.

Colditz Castle (Oflag IV-C): Paintings and Photos

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0000

The watercolor on the left was painted by British POW Major W. F. Anderson in 1941-1942. The photo on the right shows a similar view from 1995, after the castle had been restored closer to how it looked during medieval times. The accompanying text describes how music was used as a signal during an escape.

The site features a small art exhibition and other information, often in English and German.

Mario Bosch has a great photo gallery, though his image of the castle as it was during the war (and several decades after) is on a different page.

Leo and Ruth Hamson

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0000

As a postscript to our series on Leo Hamson, here are a few additional details.

Archives Canada includes a page on Ruth and Leo Hamson. Some excerpts:

Leo Hamson was born in Toronto on October 13, 1920. After graduating in 1939, he took a job at the Canadian Bank of Commerce. Leo served during the Second World War as a sergeant-instructor in a field artillery battery and was later granted a commission as a lieutenant. He sent for Ruth while posted to East Coast Harbour Defenses and they were married November 6, 1942 in St. John, New Brunswick. Leo was later sent to Europe and returned in August of 1945. Following the war he served in Calgary, Alberta, Wetaskiwin, Alberta and at a Prisoner of War (P.O.W.) camp. While discharging veterans, he met a group planning Little Smoky Farm Industries and was invited to join.

...

Leo died on August 12, 2007.

Together, Ruth and Leo had three children: Karl, Marilyn Leslie, and Laura.

Follow the link for more details.

Ruth wrote a book: Staying Alive - Tracing the Adventures of George Cornwell & W. Scott Pitzer. I found details via a used copy available from Gallowglass Books and at AbeBooks

1905 in Alberta a young canadian and his american friend, this is a harrowing tale of the disaster and survial that followed [their] exploring of the north west territories. The book is written by George Cornwell's daughter from her fathers diaries.

Page 20: on the run for two days

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0000

"Dasselbe. Durchgegangen von Wainwright und seit zwei Tagen unterwegs." "Großartig. Anständige Entfernung bis hierher; wie habt ihr das so schnell geschafft?" "Gehitchhiked, hatten viel Glück; und wollten hier gern ein paar Wochen unterschlupfen, bis die ärgste Polizeisuche vorbei ist; wird das gehen?" "Selbstredend; gleich kommt der Lagerführer; ein prima Kerl, mit dem müßt ihr das Nähere besprechen." Da trat er schon ein. Schnell orientierten wir ihn über uns und unsere Absichten. "Geht in Ordnung, heute nacht bleibt ihr mal im Waschhaus, morgen sehen wir weiter. Und jetzt schnell, denn um 11 ist Zählung - unser Sergeant ist ziemlich genau, gleich wird er kommen." Schon wurden wir in die nächste Hütte, das Waschhaus, geleitet. "Aber ihr seid ja völlig durchnäßt. Wartet, gleich komme ich wieder."

"The same. Escaped from Wainwright and on the run for two days." "Magnificent. That's a fair distance to here; how did you make it so quickly?" "Hitchhiked, had lots of luck; and would like to take cover here for a few weeks, until the worst of the police search is over; would that be ok?" "Of course; the camp leader will come soon; a great guy, you'll have to discuss the details with him." At that moment, he entered. Quickly we informed him about us and our intentions. "That's fine, tonight you can stay in the wash house, tomorrow we'll consider further. And now hurry, because there's a count at 11 - our sergeant is very precise, he will come soon." We were guided to the next hut, the wash house. "You guys are completely soaked. Wait, I'll be right back."

Colditz Castle (Oflag IV-C): Movies and TV

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0000

Colditz was also the subject of several movies and TV series, including (per Wikipedia):

The Colditz Story (1955):

The prisoners of Colditz are high-spirited and eager to needle the Germans. The escape officer of the British contingent, Patrick Reid (Mills), assists in the escape of other prisoners and finally carries out his own escape. The culmination of his escape, his successful crossing into Switzerland, is not depicted in the film.

Amazon.com lists a Region 2 DVD of the film (which may not work in North America).

TV: (1972-1974):

Almost all of the events depicted in the series, except for dramatic points like the Kommandant's son and Colonel Preston's wife and mother, have a basis in truth. Most of the characters are loosely based on one or several actual persons. The most obvious are Pat Grant (Patrick Reid) and Hauptmann Ulmann (Reinhold Eggers).

TV: (2005) ... though the most interesting comment is on the main Oflag IV-C page:

This tale is much more fictional than its predecessors, with fictional characters and situations that are merely based on real people and events.

(The image isn't related to the movie or TV series; I just wanted to include a pre-restoration view.)

Colditz Castle (Oflag IV-C): Videos

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0000

YouTube includes several interesting videos on Colditz, including several by "dewARTvideo". Here's one that provides a good overview.

Colditz Castle (Oflag IV-C): Books

Tue, 14 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0000

There were numerous successful Allied escapes from the (supposedly) high security POW "camp" in Colditz Castle (overlooking the town of Colditz in the German state of Saxony, which became part of East Germany after the war). Wikipedia covers the attempts with links to other details.

Mario Bosch has a long list of Colditz books in his collection -- spanning several languages.

One of the originals, Pat Reid's 1952 "Escape from Colditz" is available from Archive.org for those with an encryption key from the Library of Congress' National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.

For the rest of us, Archive.org offers a free download (in several formats) of "Colditz: The German Side of the Story" (1962), an English translation of a book by Reinhold Eggers, the German Security Officer at Colditz.

"Epilogue"

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0000

Here is final part in our series of recollections by Canadian Lt. Leo L. Hamson, regarding his time as a guard at the Wainwright POW camp. (minor typos corrected)

(The full set of Recollections is back online, with photos.)

Epilogue

Long years passed. It was not until the fall of 2001 that the National Film Board of Canada asked me to participate in a film by German-born film-maker Eva Colmers of Edmonton, along with a number of former German POWs she had located. Some of them have since passed away. It was a stunning moment on Dec 21, 2001 when director Eva Colmers brought me face-to-face for the first time in 56 years with former Oberleutnant Siegfried Osterwoldt, and had us shake hands on camera. Unknown to each other, we had been living in Edmonton for many years. Now we are close friends, trying to make up for lost time.

Titled “The Enemy Within” these are the stories of German prisoner-of-war camps in Canada told in our own words. The film opens in Regensburg, the lovely old German city on the Danube, and the original home of Eva Colmers. She went back to interview her father, a former POW in Lethbridge. As a child, Eva had heard her father many times speak gratefully of the humane and very correct treatment he had received as a prisoner of the Canadians. It was this memory that had inspired Eva Colmers to make this historic film.

Also present at the filmed meeting in Regensburg was Eva’s uncle, who had been taken prisoner on the Eastern Front where millions died and where the soldiers of neither side had any protection from the Geneva Convention. At Stalingrad and countless other battles on hundreds of miles of battlefront, hundreds of thousands of exhausted German soldiers fell into Soviet captivity. Only a very small number survived execution, starvation, and years of brutal slave labour to see their homeland again. The voice of Eva’s uncle chokes with emotion as he recalls his determined struggle to survive and see his family again.

The contrast in the experience of the two brothers is profound beyond words. Large numbers of those held captive in Canadian camps were so impressed with their treatment that they could hardly wait to return to make Canada their home. One wonders if any former prisoners of the Soviets did likewise!

Few Canadians today are aware of this episode in our history. After seeing the theatre screening of the film, my academic friend Dr. Don Kvill declared, “That made me really proud to be a Canadian!” Indeed, we should take pride in the fact that in those dark and desperate times when other nations lost their humanity and forgot the meaning of civilized behaviour, we did not. War and hatred go hand in hand. It is the real test of any people when they can treat their defeated enemies with humane decency whether they have signed a convention or not.

“The Enemy Within” won the top award in an international “World Visions” festival of documentary films in competition with 66 other films. It received its television premiere on the History Television channel September 12th, 2004.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Related Posts:
1. Documentary (2003): The Enemy Within (Apr 23, 2010)

Page 19: If only we knew

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0000

Eine Hütte lag ganz zwischen den Bäumen. Mit angehaltenem Atem näherten wir uns dem Fenster. Wir erblickten einige Männer in Holzfällerkleidung um einen Tisch sitzend und sich unterhaltend. Verstehen konnten wir nichts - schade. "Wenn wir nur wüßten, ob es kanadische Zivilarbeiter oder deutsche Kriegsgefangene sind", raunte ich Heinz zu. Vorsichtig schlichen wir zur nächsten Hütte. Plötzlich geht die Tür auf, ein Mann tritt heraus und erblickt uns im vollen, herausflutenden Lichtschein. "Nanu, was wollt ihr denn hier?" spricht er uns auf deutsch an. Fast wären wir ihm um den Hals gefallen. Schnell traten wir in die Hütte, zogen den Mann hinter uns hinein und schlossen die Tür. "Gott sei Dank - also ihr seid doch deutsche Kriegsgefangene", stieß ich hastig hervor. "Na klar, was denn sonst? Und wer seid ihr?"

One hut lay right between the trees. With bated breath we neared the window. We spotted some men in lumberjack clothes sitting around a table and talking. We couldn't understand anything - too bad. "If only we knew whether they are Canadian workers or German POWs," I murmured to Heinz. Carefully we crept to the next hut. Suddenly the door opened, a man stepped outside and spotted us in the full light flooding out from the hut. "Nanu, was wollt ihr denn hier?" - "Hey, what do you want here?" he addressed us in German. We almost hugged him. We quickly entered the hut, pulled the man inside behind us and closed the door. "Thank God - so you are in fact German POWs," I said hastily. "Of course, what else? And who are you?"

Public Domain and some image credits

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0000

Here are some additional image credits from the copyright page of the book (with the links spelled out):

The pocket watch and barbed wire snippet were posted to Clker by OCAL. The site is a very useful source of public domain clip art.

The map of North America is adapted from the CIA World Factbook. As with most US Government publications, the original is in the public domain.

Anything in the public domain may be used and modified with no restrictions, and no credit given. (However, it's still polite to give credit.)

A creative work is "public domain" either if the copyright has expired (e.g. in the US, a book printed in the US prior to 1923) or if the creator has specifically relinquished all rights and placed it in the public domain. Many countries grant copyright for the life of an author plus 70 years (in Europe, Australia, etc.) or 50 years (in Canada and elsewhere).

Note that images and sound recordings generally have their own complicated rules for when copyright expires.

Some useful links:

John Mark Ockerbloom's "Online Books Page" site includes lots of details
Public Domain Sherpa is thorough and well-written
Canadian Public Domain Flowchart (pdf)
Creative Commons offers a public domain license

An aside: Creative Commons licenses

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0000

Yesterday's post mentioned the CC-BY license that covers most of the images that we use on the blog and elsewhere.

Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that developed and promotes a family of licenses to provide an easy way for creators to specify what others may or may not do with a creative work. Each license has a simple abbreviation that adds a specific constraint:

BY: anyone may use and modify, as long as they indicate who the original work is by ("attribution")
NC: non-commercial use only (which unfortunately isn't clearly defined, e.g. what about personal blogs that display ads? And company-owned blogs (like this one) if the image isn't part of a specific ad or product?)
ND: no derivative works, i.e. may not modify
SA: share alike, a "viral" license (like GPL for software) that requires derivative works to also use a SA license

Some combinations: "cc by", "cc by-nc", "cc by-nd", "cc by-sa", "cc by-nc-sa", "cc by-nc-nd".

The set of options is generally well thought out. However, there's also a potential source of confusion. Merely saying that a work is covered under a Creative Commons license says very little. The details are critical, and it's vital to check which cc license before proceeding. It would be helpful if the organization played a stronger role in encouraging people to post the exact license rather than just using the umbrella term.

There's also one useful license option that is missing (or at least unclear): requiring that any changes to the actual work are shared, but allowing the original or derivative work to be incorporated into a larger work without forcing the larger work into a certain license. (Model: the LGPL for software.)

A tidbit: in 2009, Wikipedia migrated from the GFDL to cc by-sa.

Flickr and some image credits

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0000

I finally got a chance to upload the book posters to Flickr, with links to the original images that we adapted. All of our 'poster' blog posts include an image credit and link, but I wanted to include one at the source too.

(Still TBD: additional images used in our book trailers.)

And, here are two credits that are listed on the copyright page of the book (with the links spelled out), but haven't yet appeared on the blog:

The following 2 people were kind enough to make their photos available to all under a Creative Commons "by" attribution license, including taking the risk that adaptations do not do justice to the originals.

jmegjmeg: freight car + burner
MarmotChaser: Autumn in Pennsylvania

Thanks also to Flickr for providing a CC-BY search page.